The development of electric field sensors, or electrometers, for detecting low-frequency and weak signals with high spatial resolution is useful for areas of research ranging from particle physics and atmospheric sciences to electronic diagnostics and neuroscience. Commonly available electrometers that rely on electrostatic induction include field mills and dipole antennas. They are physically limited in size by the wavelength of the electric field of interest thereby limiting the possibility of miniaturization at lower frequencies. Recent work towards the development of miniaturized electrometers include utilizing the electro-optic effect within solid-state crystals within one arm of a fiber-based Mach-Zehnder interferometer or the electric-field induced shifts of atom-based sensors, such as trapped ions or Rydberg atoms. However, such miniaturized sensors typically suffer from narrow detection bandwidths and require large peripheral equipment.
Previous demonstrations of electric-field sensing with a single nitrogen vacancy (NV) under ambient conditions yielded sensitivities of 891±21 V cm−1 Hz−1/2 (DC) and 202±6 V cm1 Hz−1/2 (AC). Although a single NV was used to detect the charge-state of a neighboring NV, the noise properties of the charge-state fluctuations of the NV remains an active area of investigation.